About 40 minutes drive east of Severobaikalsk is an Evenki village named (K)holodnaya. Their population is around 400 and about half of their population are Evenki.
Fred and I had contact with a woman named Lyuba, who is Evenki. She has been a believer for a few years, following personal tragedy in her own life. It is easy to see how God drew her. It is also clear that many of the other people in her town are very spiritually closed to outsiders and to hearing the gospel.
We spent a few hours with Lyuba. We were able to pray with her and encourage her with stories from the bible. Lyuba also did some Evenki work with me. I collected a word list of 40+ Evenki words to compare with other dialects. Happily, her dialect is very similar to the Baikit dialect that we have been learning. Lyuba gets very little chance to speak her language these days, as only the older generation speak. The questions of sociolinguistics and endangered languages are complicated ones. As her dialect is similar to Baikit, this meant I could leave a book of Evenki bible stories for her to read.
Evenki folk tale.
Evenki folk tale.
The soviet foundation of the village of Kholodnaya in the 1930s.
Traditional Evenki reindeer herding.
The Evenki "calendar". The year starts in summer when the sun is at its highest point. Season 1 is Fishing. Season 1 is hunting reindeer and foxes. Season 3 is hunting smaller furry animals. Season 4 is sitting around in the chum (in the middle of winter). Season 5 is hunting small furry animals again. Season 6 is hunting moose. Season 7 is hunting ducks.
The creation story.
We tried to pray for the drunk men sitting on the ground, but they just wanted more money for alcohol.
Giving the kids a ride on a trailer.
Giving the kids a whizzy.
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